Mail-marking machine



(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet l.

M. V. B. ETHRIDGE & H. E. WAITE. MAIL MARKING MACHINE.

No. 538,018. Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

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INVENT'CIRE) 5 Sheets-Sheet a.

Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

(No Model. I v

M.- V. B. ETHRIDGE & H. E. WAITE.

MAIL MARKING MACHINE. No. 538,018

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M. V. B. ETI-IRIDGE & H. E. WAITE.

5 SheetsSheet 4.

MAIL MARKING MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT GFEICE.

MART1N'v. s.ETHR1DcE,oE EVERETT, AND HENRY E. WAITE, OF NEWTON, ASsIeNoRs To oHARLES F. BROWN, or READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAIL-MARKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 538,018, dated April 23, 1895.

Application filed November 15, 1894. $erial No. 528,852. (No model.) A

Among the essentials to asuccessf ull y operating machine of this character is a feedmechanism which will so time the letters in their departure from the hopper as to insure 2o marking of each letter at the same place. Feed mechanisms heretofore used in these machines have been a source of' annoyance from the fact that they could not be relied upon to act positively'and maintain regularity 2 in governing the passage of the letters to the marking devices.

One object of our present invention is to provide an absolutely positive feed-mechanism which cannot fail to accurately and uni- 0 formly time the letters in their departu e' from the hopper, and this we accomplish by an arrangement of gripping devices having a compound gripping and feeding motion and ing out of time encounters the abutment and is taken clear of the same by the switch and at the exact moment the letter clears the abutment the grippers close upon it and then advance it positively. The switch and the grippers are connected through positive means with the marking devices, so that there is a fixed relation of movement between these parts, and each letter advanced by the grippers is acted on by the marking devices at exactly the same place.

Another essential to a successfully operating machine of the character specified is a Stacking mechanism which will always be ready to receive a letter from the marking devices and will stack the letters in the order received without crumpling them or allowing them to escape. Our invention provides for this in a stacking mechanism of improved construction calculated to insure a proper dis 5 5 position of each letter received from the marking devices, escape or misplacem'ent'of a letter being impossible.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the complete machine. Fig. 2 shows a plan view on an enlargedscale of the feed mechanism, with the parts positioned as when a letter is first taken by the grippers. Fig. 3 shows a similar view, with the grippers advanced. Fig. 4. shows the feed mechanism in front elevation. Fig.

5 shows the same in end elevation, with some parts in section. Fig. 6 shows a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 shows the stacking 7o mechanism in front elevation. Fig. 8 shows a section on line 88 of Fig. 7.

The letter a designates a horizontal table having a longitudinal opening occupied by the horizontal upper stretch of a conveyorbelt b forming the bottom of the hopper, the sides b and b of which are erected on the table. At some distance from the discharge end of the hopper, the printing and impression cylinders c and c are located, the former being in fixed bearings and the latter in bearings on a pivoted spring-pressed frame 0 These cylinders are connected by gearing so as to have a fixed relation of movement. operating in conjunction with a letter-switch 35 and a letter-abutment, so that a letterarriv- Just beyond the discharge end of the hop- 8 5 per, there are located a pair of feed-rollers d and d, the former of which is positively driven through gearing'connecting it with the impression cylinder, and is journaled in bearings on a frame d pivotally connected with 0 the frame 0 and spring-held to create pressure of the rollerd against the roller (1' which is an idler in fixed bearings. It will now be seen that the feed-rollers have a fixed relation in their movements to the printing and im- 5 pression cylinders, so that the place of marking a letter can be determined by the time of entrance of that letter between the feed-rollers. .The feed-roller d has a segmental portion of its periphery cut-away, as shown at d" in Figs. 2 and 3, for a purposehereinafter explained.

One feature of our invention resides in means for positively entering the letter between the feed-rollers at that exact time, and we will next describe the means here shown for accomplishing that result. There is a fixed abutment in the form of an arm 6 fastened to a post e rising from the table a: just beyond the roller (1, and toione side of acentral longitudinal line of the machine. The said arm extends obliquely toward said line, and has an end face (2 extending transversely to the center line and terminating close beside the same, this line being the normalletter-path. A pair of arms fand'fare pivoted to ears on the hopper-sides b and I1 respectively, and they converge toward the abut ment-arm, e and arebifurcated at, their ends to embrace the latter. The arm. f is pressed toward the arm, f by. a comparatively, light fixed on a shaft f which isia gear with the printing cylinder and rotates synchronously therewitln'and in each revolutiqn. ofthese arts. thecam moves thearm. inward. tothe P end of the abutment-face e thearmf being i pushed back, by its mate. f'. Thetwoiapms,

constitute a switch, which. by its. vibration times the escapeof a letter past the abuts. ment,said. switch at just the proper moment.

arriving at the endof theahutment-faceand.

at all, other timesdiverting a, letten fed. into.

it against the said face.

Simultaneously with the arrival of; the

switch at the end. of the, abutment-face, certain grippers close on theletteigsaid grippers being of the following description: Slideways g andg are pivotallysuipported 0110p.- posite sides of thehopper sotas to. move v in, a,

horizontal plane, and. spnings g? comm nting;

their near ends with. the hopper-sides act to pressthe forward. endsof the slide-gays ou-t,- ward. Rectangular frames. h and h have shanks 72 and k which fit in the slide-ways g and g, and the said, frames: are actuated. rearward-1y in. said. ways. by spiral. springs hf.

Each frame has a wehh? whichiswidenedon;. the inner side,there beingformed at this part.

a forked gripping foot h whose gripping faces are covered, with rubber to. secure a. better effect. The forked gripping feet of the two frames face each other above and below the abutment-arm e and switch-ar1hsfandf Theig-ripping. and, feed movements of the. grippers areproduced by-cams whicharecone structed and arranged asfollowsr Theframes.

h and. h embracefthe shaft f and the shaft d of roller. d, respectively, and a-fi aiedtothese. shafts are cams 'landt which actagainstthe two inner sides of the. frames KO; move. the

grippcrstowardeach other, thesaidcams hay:- in g extended acting surfaces soasto hold, the grippers closed. during their feedrmovement. Onthe shafts. h andd. below the camsil and. 2'"thereare afifixed other camsj and j'which act against pendent portions j j of the front sides of the frames to move the grippers for- Ward.

The operation of the grippers is as follows: At the exact moment the switch arrives at the inner end of the abutment-face 6 under in pulse of the cam f The grippers are closed A bythe cams 'i and z" and they are held closed 'while the cams jand' j move them forward.

(See Fig. 3.) When the limit of the feed-motion is, reached, the high portions of both sets of cams are carried past the surfaces of the frames which they act against, and the springs g and h then open the grippers and draw them back to position for gripping the next letter.

The feed movement of the grippers carries an interposed letter positively between the feed-rollersclandd'; and as the movement of the. feed-roller d is much faster than the movement of theigri-pperssaid roller is cut out asat d",,so.that it. doesrnot engage the letter untilthegrippers release it. This avoids cnumpling the letter;

It will now be seen that our invention provides positive meansfor timing the departure of the letters from, thehopperr An arm, 'laispivoted. concentrically with the arnnf, and extends, into the letter-path, and a, bell-crank leveigja, bears agai nst said arm, 1a., These devices constitute a tripfor releasing the marking mechanism... A letter advanced by the gripper displaces the arm. is

and, therefore the. detent.

Passing oninow to the stacking mechanism, it istoibet said that... thetable a. at a point beyond: the painting and. impression cylinders 1 and, to oneside of thecenter line is depressed, forming aninclosure. m, for the stack of letters. of thisinclosurefiormS a. ledge m on which the marked letters land, and there is erected on this ledge a guard m which. also extends around the forwardend of, the inclosure m. 'lheguard, the ledge, and the wall m which extends down from the ledge are all slotted, as shown at m and; a. stacking device is arranged: to work through these slots and push .theletters. offthe ledge as fast asthey arrive. Thisstacking devico consists of a vibrating arnr'n pivotedtoastationary su p port at n and havingat its upper end a. cross-head a carryingupstanding fingersmn 'and laterally projectingpins n in line with the fingers respcctivel-y. The arm. it carries a. roller-equipped pin, a which. engages a cam-groove a" in a disk n affixed to a, shaft 11 which is in gear with. the printingcylinder. tixedrelation of movement between. the printiing. cylinder and, the vibrating stacker.

The stacking operationisasfollows: A letter issuing frombetweenthe printing andimpression cylinders lands on the ledge m! and isipreventedfrom escaping by the guard m Immediately upon, the arrival of the letter, the forward swingofi the arm it carries the .fingersnf, through theslotsmfiand thesefingers move the letter off the ledge while the Thus there is a seems *3 to the stack. There is a sliding back-rest p for the stack on the bottom of the inclosure.

As a safe-guard against escape of the letter when impelled by the stacker, we provide a rod 0 against which the top part of the let ter strikes, said rod being supported by arm's fastened to the guard m It will be seen that the above-described arrangement insures stacking of the letters in the order they are received.

The gearing which connects the moving parts of the machine is not shown, as it involves no innovation but can be set up in any suitable manner, which would naturally suggest itself to any one skilled in the art.

What we claim as our invention is as follows:

1. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a hopper, aconveyer therein, a fixed abutment for letters issuing from the hopper under impulse of said conveyer, a timing switch vibrating transversely of the abutment and adapted to direct letters against the same and time their departure therefrom, and grippers adapted to close on the letter at the moment it is free of the abutment and to then advance the letter.

2. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a hopper, aconveyer therein, means for timing a letter in its departure from the hopper, opposed grippers each movable in a substantially rectangular course, said grippers adapted to close on a letter and advance it, and means for imparting to the grippers motion of the character above named.

3. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a hopper, a conveyer therein, a fixed abutment for letters issuing from the hopper under impulse of said conveyer, vibrating switch-arms yieldingly held in contact and movable together transversely of the abutment, and means applied to one of said arms for vibrating it.

4. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of ahopper, a conveyor therein, a fixed abutment for letters issuing from the hopper under impulse of said conveyer, pivoted switch-arms one spring-actuated against the other, and a cam acting against that otherin opposition to a spring.

5. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a hopper, a conveyer therein, means for timing a letter in its departure from the hopper, grippers on slides in pivotal supports, and earns actuating the supports and slides separately in opposition to springs.

6. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of ahopper, a conveyer therein, a fixed abutment for letters issuing from the hopper under impulse of said conveyer, a timing switch vibrating transversely of the abutment and adapted to direct letters against the same and time their departure therefrom, feed-rollers beyond the abutment, grippers arranged to close on the letter at the moment it is free of the abutment and advance it between the feed-rollers, and printing and impression cylinders beyond the feed-rollers.

7. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of an inclosure for a stack of letters, a horizontal ledge on which each new letter lands, a movable back-rest for the stack, and a vibrating stacker working through a wall which rises from the ledge and across said ledge and provided with projections to act against the stack through the wall of the inclosure which rises to the ledge, said projections adapted to receive each new letter moved oft the ledge, substantially as described.

8. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of printing and impression cylinders, a ledge on which marked letters land, an inclosure for a stack of letters adjacent to the ledge, a movable back-rest for the stack, and a vibrating stacker working across the ledge and having projections which act against the stack and receive each new letter, substantially as described.

9. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a hopper, a conveyer therein, means for timing a letter in its departure from the hopper, grippers having a compound gripping and feed motion, and feed-rollers between which the letter is taken by the grippers, one of said rollers being positively driven and having a segmental portion of its periphery cut away,substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 30th day of October, A. l). 1894.

MARTIN V. B. ETI-IRIDGE. HENRY E. WAITE. Witnesses:

F. P. DAVIS, A. D. HARRIsoN.

IOC 

